A Somali television journalist was shot dead in Mogadishu on Sunday by a man wearing the military uniform of the Transitional National Government (TNG).

Reuters and other news outlets said that an unknown assailant armed with an AK-47 opened fire on Abdisalan Sheikh Hassan, known to colleagues as “Xiis”, shooting him several times in the shoulder and stomach. The journalist was rushed to Mogadishu’s Madina hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

News reports appeared to differ as to the exact location of the shooting, but a local journalists union indicated that the attack took place while Hassan was in a vehicle passing through the city’s Hamar-Jajab district.  Witnesses said Hassan and at least one colleague had left the offices of HornCable Television, where Hassan worked as Mogadishu stringer, and were on their way to a café when their car was ambushed.

Zakarize Abdulahi, the colleague who was traveling with Mr. Hassan, told Reuters: “A government soldier in uniform with an AK47 ordered us to stop our car and, without further questions, he opened fire direct to my colleague.”  A Somali security official, Mohamed Bakar, later acknowledged reports that the alleged killer was dressed in army camouflage but did not offer an explanation. “We understand that the man was in Somali military uniform but we are still investigating,” Bakar was quoted by AFP as saying.

The motive behind the killing was not immediately clear, but there were unconfirmed reports that Hassan had received multiple death threats related to his work in recent weeks.

Local journalists said that Mr. Hassan, in addition to his position with HornCable, was an evening newscaster for Radio Hamar, also called Voice of Democracy. In late 2009, a mortar attack against Radio Hamar killed the wife of the station’s director and seriously injured the director himself, Abdirahman Yasin Ali.

The International Press Institute (IPI) is deeply saddened to hear of the death of Hassan, who leaves behind a wife and three children.  IPI Press Freedom Manager Anthony Mills said: “We extend our deepest condolences to the family ofAbdisalan Sheikh Hassan, whose murder constitutes yet another tragic blow to the extraordinarily fragile state of press freedom in Somalia. In this case, the circumstances surrounding what appears to have been a targeted killing suggest the possibility that Mr. Hassan was punished for his work as a journalist by a member of Somalia’s own government forces. We call upon the TNG to immediately open a thorough and unbiased investigation into this crime and step up efforts to protect the media, whose ability to operate freely is critical to the prospect of a stable and peaceful Somalia.”

According to IPI’s Death Watch, Hassan is the third journalist to have been killed in Somalia this year, making the war-torn state Africa’s most dangerous for the media.